The Slow Summer Jam is a relaxed, creative challenge from People in Games, running from the June PinG meetup to the September PinG meetup.
Rather than a traditional 48-hour game jam, Slow Summer Jam gives members of the PinG community the whole summer to make something inspired by a shared theme. You can work at your own pace, fit it around other projects, or use the time to collaborate with others.
You can submit a game, playable prototype, artwork, concept design, animation, audio piece, narrative piece, experimental work, or another game-related creative response to the theme.
The aim is simple: make something, share it, and help us celebrate the creativity of the local games community.
The theme for Slow Summer Jam is:
You can interpret this however you like. Your small world might be a tiny ecosystem, a room, a diorama, a miniature society, a pocket universe, a creature habitat, a hidden place, a snow globe, a toy box, a world inside a machine, or something much stranger.
The theme is deliberately open so that developers, artists, writers, designers, audio creators, and other creatives can all respond in different ways.
Slow Summer Jam is public-facing, but submissions are only open to people who have joined the PinG community on Discord.
You will need to provide your Discord username when submitting your entry.
You can enter as an individual or as part of a team.
You can submit work in any game-related creative format, including:
Submissions do not need to be large, polished, or fully finished. We are interested in ideas, creativity, process, collaboration, and community spirit.
Launch and theme reveal: Monday 8 June 2026
Submission deadline: 12:00, Tuesday 1 September 2026
Public voting closes: 23:59, Sunday, 13 September 2026
Judging period: 12:00, 1 September to 23:59, 14 September 2026
September meetup: 18:00, Monday 14 September 2026
Submissions can be updated after being submitted, but only until the final deadline.
No late submissions will be accepted.
At the September People in Games meetup, we will include a short Slow Summer Jam celebration alongside the scheduled guest speakers.
We plan to announce:
Slow Summer Jam Game Spotlight Recognising a game or interactive prototype submitted to the jam.
Slow Summer Jam Art Spotlight Recognising a visual art submission that responds strongly to the theme. Only entries self-declared as free from generative AI will be eligible for this award.
People’s Choice Award Voted for by the community and public on itch.io. Voting is open from the end of the jam on 12:00 on Tuesday, 1 September 2026 until midnight on Sunday, 13th September 2026.
Special Recognitions Additional recognitions may be announced depending on the submissions received. These may highlight areas such as collaboration, use of theme, audio, writing, experimentation, visual design, or weirdest concept
Submissions will be judged by a panel between 1 September and 14 September 2026. Panel members will be announced at a later date.
Jam organisers may submit entries, but organiser submissions will only be eligible for the People’s Choice Award.
AI use is allowed, but it must be declared.
If you use AI tools as part of your submission, please tell us what tools and models were used and how they contributed to the work. This includes generative image tools, text generation tools, audio generation tools, code assistants, and other AI-assisted production tools.
However, only entries self-declared as free from generative AI will be eligible for the Slow Summer Jam Art Spotlight.
Entrants are responsible for ensuring that they have the rights to submit and showcase their work.
Collaboration is encouraged.
Artists, developers, writers, audio creators, designers, students, hobbyists, and professionals are welcome to team up. There will be a Team Up channel on Discord where you can look for others to work with.
If you contribute to a team project, you may also submit your own individual contribution separately, provided that the wider project and collaborators are clearly credited. For example, an artist who creates concept art for a team game may submit that artwork as a separate art entry, while also being credited on the team’s game submission.
All contributors should be credited clearly.
Submissions must be made through this itch.io jam page before the deadline.
You will be asked to provide:
You may update your submission until 12:00 on Tuesday 1 September 2026.
No late submissions will be accepted.
The Slow Summer Jam will conclude at the September People in Games meet-up at ARU Peterborough.
At the meet-up, we aim to show a highlight reel of submitted work, announce the main awards, and share any special recognitions.
All submitted work will remain available through the itch.io jam page, and the community is encouraged to browse, play, view, comment on, and support entries throughout the jam.
Join the PinG Discord to take part, find collaborators, ask questions, share progress, and support other entrants.
More information and updates will be shared through the PinG Discord.
